'Little People, Big World' Parents: 'We Opened the Doors for Faithful Families' (INTERVIEW)
Matt and Amy Roloff, along with their four children: Zach, Jeremy, Molly, and Jacob, are the stars of TLC's "Little People, Big World," which returns for an all-new season on Oct. 29. Matt and Amy Roloff spoke with The Christian Post about their decision to tell their story on national TV, how that has changed their lives, and how faith has played a role in what they do.
CP: You were one of the first little families prominently featured on TV. What made you decide to come forward with your story and allow your lives to be filmed for everyone to see? Was it a family decision?
Matt: Originally it was sharing with the world about dwarfism … originally we thought those people were thought of as trolls under bridges. We wanted to help educate and advocate for little people; we wanted to bring awareness that even if you look different on the outside, there are a lot more similarities that we share. It was a good thing to show people … that even though people may look different on the outside, we all have similarities.
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Amy: In the early days, I don't think it was as formal and official as it is … we have a family meeting, but we spoke with the kids before filming the series. We prefer everyone to be on board and we've seen different dynamics over the years and they'll do a little arm-twisting on the arms of the other one. In the early years, we took it a year or season at a time, especially when the kids were younger. We asked if this was still working for us … if we were happy with what was happy
CP: Your family has been through several ups and downs but always stayed together. What is your secret to a strong family? Does faith play a role in that?
Matt: I think one of the things that I'm hoping keeps us strong as a family is not having too many regrets: you do your best in the moment when the kids are the age that they are. As parents, you can't be too hard on yourself and you learn from that.
Amy: My kids are in different phases of their own faith, but my own faith keeps me grounded, keeps me humbled. We've raised our kids with a strong sense of purpose and who they are as God's children and I think that shines through on the show. Their relationships are between them and God, but we think that we have opened the door for other shows to explore a faithful lifestyle … for families not to be tearing one another apart. From what we hear from people on the streets, we're doing that.
CP: Are you pleased with the way your family has been portrayed on TV? Is there anything you would change about the show or about some of the things that have been aired?
Roloffs: I think, all-in-all, we're pleased with the experience although it's uncomfortable at times. It's never easy to look in the mirror; you're not always pleased with the way we've acted or been, but that's part of life. TLC has reflected us in an honest, open way. If we were a family that had their shows edited, we wouldn't be honest.
Amy: I don't really watch the episodes; we've lived our lives and I would go back and do it all again. It's taken a lot of our personal time but provided new experiences. I look at some of the episodes and see how young the kids were and where they are now, what they're doing in their lives.
Matt: I'll download an old episode when I'm on a trip … and I'll either laugh at the way we looked or acted but will always conclude that we have the best collection of home videos of anyone in the world. And that is an amazing phenomenon.
The new season of "Little People, Big World" premieres on TLC on Oct. 29.
Watch a trailer for the new season here:
